Electric outlet molding



oct. 1o, 1933. P, J. CAssmv 1,929,547

ELECTRIC OUTLET HOLDING Filed may 1o, 1932 V ilff' f' f so vlbiu, w", l

wllms ,3 I ,NVE'NTOR Philip d. Cassidy, 0 a 27 /2 28 BY 5 j f- AroRNEYPatented Oct. 10, 1933 PATENT OFFICE ELECTRIC OUTLET MOLDING Philip J.Cassidy, Poughkeepsie, N. Y., assignor to Albert Philip Dorsey,Poughkeepsie, N. Y.

Application May 10, 1932. Serial No. 610,406

Claims.

This invention relates to an electricoutlet molding ofl that class whichis intended to be installed in the wiring of buildings, etc., to providea continuous socket whereby the plugs of 5 electrical lights andappliances may be attached at any point and also as many as desired, andalso moved to different locations as desired.

The usual manner of wiring buildings is to provide at predeterminedlocations, what are 1o known as outlets or wall plugs, and these aremostly located in the base board of the room and wired into the maincircuit, but these outlets always have to be used inthe places wherelocated, which in many cases are not in the proper location, and thisrequires long cords on the electrical attachments.

The object of the invention is to provide an outlet member similar tothe usual member which receives the prongs of the attachment 90 plug,but which is constructed in the form of a molding of insulating materialhaving contact members in the form of long strips which are incorporatedin the insulation and -which are adapted to receive the prongs of theattachment plug at any location, this molding to be built into the baseboard of the room for its entire length, or if desired it may beincorporated into any other part of the walls or ceiling or floor of theroom, and attached at one 3o or more places to the feed wiring of thehouse circuit.

Another object of the invention is to provide in a device of this class,an outlet moldingr that may be readily installed, cheap to manufacture,

and be inconspicuous when in place.

Still another object being to provide an article of this kind that shallbe safe and comply with the requirements of electrical installation.

A further object of the invention is to provide in an outlet molding ofthis kind means whereby the ends of the several lengths and the shortsections where the feed line is attached may be jointed together end toend in a simple and effective manner, as also the joining of corners,angles, etc., required in installing the molding around a room.

Another object being to provide means whereby the junction of the feedwires lwith the molding may be reached without injury totheinstallation, for the purpose of repairing, etc.

With these and other objects in view, my inventionv consists in certainconstruction and combination of parts as will hereinafter be fullydescribed and claimed, and illustrated in the l'55 accompanying drawing,in which like figures of reference refer to corresponding parts in allof the views, but it is fully understood that slight changes may be madein the construction and arrangement of the several parts withoutdeparting from the spirit of the invention.

In the drawing- Figure 1 shows a front elevationvof a portion of themolding, with two attachment plugs in place.

Figure 2 shows a rear view of a small section of the molding,illustrating the method of attaching the feed wires, but showing thecable box removed therefrom.

Figure 3 shows a sectional view of the molding and the method ofmounting the same in the base board of the room, and also shows anattachment plug in place.

Figure 4 shows the rear view of two abutting ends of the molding and themeans for joining the ends of the contact or feed bars together.

Figure 5 shows an enlarged cross sectional view of one of the feed barsand its attachment or joining means.

Referring to the drawing- I have shown in Figure 3, and indicated by thenumeral 10 a sectional View of part of a wall 'studding, which has beencut out to receive the feed wire box 11, and secured to this studding 10in the usual manner is shown a section of the plaster wall 12 and asection of a base board 13, but it is understood that any type of wallconstruction may be used and also that the device may be incorporatedinto any part of the building.

The invention comprises a number of lengths of molding 1 4 of anydesired length, and. some preferably short, as the length shown inFigures 1 and 2.

Each length of molding 14 is formed with two L-shaped slots 15 whichextend through the entire length and which are spaced apart theapproximate distance apart of the two contact prongs 16 of the usualelectric fixture plug 17.

Within these parallel clots 15 are mounted a pair of contact strips 18which are of resilient material such as hard copper or brass, and whichare formed with an attaching angle piece and a spring arm 19, and it isunderstood that these two contact strips extend the entire length of themolding 14, but that they may be provided with transverse cuts extendingpart way across their surface at intervals for the purpose of allowingshort parts to bend by the action of the prongs 16 Without having tobend back any great length of the spring arm 19.

It will thus be seen that an attachment plug may be inserted at anypoint desired upon the entire length of the molding.

The back of the molding 14 is formed with a channel 20 also extendingits entire length, and in this channel 20 are mounted two feed bars 21,which are slightly wedge shaped in cross section as shown in detail inFigure 5, and which are formed at intervals with transverse holes forthe attachment screws 22 which pass therethrough and through a hole inthe insulation 14 and are threaded into the angle portion 23 of thecontact strip 18 to hold the same in place and feed current to the strip18.

The assembled molding 14 with the contact strips 18 and the feed bars21, is mounted within a metallic casing which is formed on the back withthe dovetail 24, and the flanges 25 which are formed by folding thematerial back upon itself, and then bending forward to form the sides 26between which the molding 14 is mounted; and at intervals along thelength of said casing and within the dovetail 24 are placed threadednuts to receive the mounting screws 27 which are passed through themolding 14 for the purpose of attaching the molding 14 to the casing',said casing flanges 25 being secured to the wall studding 10 by a seriesof clamps 28 bent to engage the edge of said ange 25 and secured to thestudding 10 by the wood screws 29.

Where adjacent ends of the molding 14 abut each other and requirejoining, this is accomplished in a simple manner as is shown in Figures4 and 5, where the ends of the feed bars 21 have snapped thereon aconnecting member 30 which is formed of resilient material, such asspring bronze, the same being of channel shape in cross section, andthese members 30 may be cut and bent to conform to a corner or angle,and the sides thereof tightly gripping the wedge shaped sides of thefeed bars 21, while to insure a perfect electrical contact there isplaced between the clamp 30 and the feed bar 21 a strip of resilientmaterial 40 which is formed with transverse iiutes or ridges which arecompressed between said clamp 30 and the feed bar 21, thus securing theabutting ends together in both a mechanical and electrical manner.

Adjacent the ends of each length of molding 14, the dovetail of thecasing is formed with elongated holes 31 so that the attachment screws27 may readily register with the nuts 32.

The channel 20 between the feed rods 21 and the back of the casing maybe filled with an insulating material in the form of wax or a strip ofinsulating material may be secured therein.

For supplying the molding with its feed rods 21 with electric current,and to facilitate the installation and inspection of said feeding means,I have provided short sections of the molding and as many of these maybe used as desired depending upon the entire length of the molding andthe size of the room, and the number of attachment plugs which it isintended to use.

I have shown one of these short sections in Figures 1 and 2, and byreferring to Figure 2,

it will be seen that a portion of the back of the casing is cut out toexpose a portion of the two feed bars 21 and the molding 14 with itschannel 20, While surrounding said cut out portion the back of thecasing is provided with the holes 33 for the screws or rivets 34 bywhich the outlet box 11 is attached by its flanges 35.

Said box 11 is of the usual type formed with holes located in differentpositions for the entrance of the conduit 36 carrying the feed wires 37and 38, and held in place in the box 11 by the clamp 39; the ends of thefeed Wires 37 and 38 being held under the heads of the screws 22.

In the installation of the molding, at the dead end of a length or atthe sides of a doorway, the end of the molding is covered by a block ofmolding or other means for closing the end thereof.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In an electric attachment socket comprising a length of insulatingmolding formed with two parallel longitudinal slots in theface thereof,resilient contact strips mounted in said slots and adapted to receivethe prongs of an attachment plug at any point throughout their entirelength, a channel formed on the back of said molding in parallelrelation with said slots, feed rods mounted therein and connected tosaid contact strips.

2. In an electric outlet socket member comprising a molding ofinsulating material formed with parallel slots in the face thereof and aparallel channel in the back thereof, contact strips mounted in saidslots, feed rods mounted in said channel, means for connecting saidcontact strips to said feed rods and a U-shaped clamp, for lconnectingthe abutting ends of adiacent feed rods together.

3. In an electric outlet socket member comprising in combination with alength of insulation molding formed with slots in the face thereof and agroove in the back thereof all parallel with each other, of resilientcontact strips mounted in said slots, feed rods mounted in said grooveand connected to said contact strips, said feed rods adapted to beconnected to an electric circuit, a metallic casing for said molding,flanges formed on said casing and means for attaching said casing to asupport.

4. In an electric outlet socket member comprising in combination with alength of molding, contact strips mounted therein and adapted to receivethe prongs of an attachment plug, feed rods mounted in said molding andconnected to said strips, and adapted to be connected to a source ofelectrical energy, means for connecting the abutting ends of adjacentfeed rods together comprising a clamp adapted to embrace the ends ofsaid feed rods and a fluted member placed between said clamp and saidfeed rods.

5. In an electric outlet socket member, comprising in combination withone or more lengths of molding, of contact strips mounted therein andadapted to receive the prongs of a plug, feed rods mounted therein andconnected to said contact strips and to the electrical circuit, a casingfor said molding formed with attaching means, and means for securing aconduit box thereto.

PHILIP J. CASSIDY.

